We can fool ourselves into thinking that the EQ changes we made are causing a track to sound better when really it’s just because the track is louder (because of the boosts). Use the output knob on your plugin to make sure that the signal that goes into your plugin goes out of your plugin at the same volume. Look for the input and output meters on your EQ plugin and dial your output knob up or down accordingly so that the meters match.

TIP: Remember that the point of an EQ is to simply enhance the tone of a track, not make it louder or quieter. By level matching, you can know with certainty whether or not your EQ moves are actually helping the track.

Example: You do a nice upper shelf boost at 7k for your lead vocal and it sounds breathy and more alive. But after looking at the output meter you realize you’ve made the vocal louder. Upon level matching the EQ plugin to the original input volume you realize that the vocal doesn’t actually sound any better. You could achieve a similar result by simply turning the vocal up in the mix. No EQ needed!